Devotion that moves the heart

Composer - Jenni Roditi
Text - Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche
Conductor - David Temple

First performance - September 13th 1997
October Gallery, London.

Scoring SATB and Keyboard.
Duration: 54 minutes

“Your work is entirely beautiful ...and quite took my breath away”.
Sally Wallis – voice client of Jenni’s.

Although the words of this work come from the Buddhist tradition of Tibet, they have relevance to a much wider audience.

All the great religions have a long tradition of devotional song and prayer, and the yearning to be closer to a higher spiritual authority expressed in this Buddhist prayer will strike an answering chord in the hearts of all who are of a religious persuasion.

From a secular perspective, the words can be seen as both a poem and a love song, where the singer expresses their love for their beloved and their own inadequacies. The object of their love and devotion is called by many names, in much the same way as a love stricken suitor will liken his love to a goddess or an angel, and the language used is rich in potent imagery, both secular and religious.

The words are also of considerable interest to the scholar, in that within this short work is not only a substantial part of the lineage of Mahamudra, one of the inner teachings of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, but also a succinct listing of the key concepts of Buddhism, and finally a clear statement of the complete path to enlightenment.

Jamgon Kongtrul, Rinpoche, also known as Jamgon Kongtrul The Great, was a versatile and prolific scholar of nineteenth century Tibet. He has been characterised as a "Tibetan Leonardo" because of his significant contributions to religion, education, medicine and politics. In his writing, which spans the entire field of Tibetan learning, he brought together the essence of the great intellectual and contemplative traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. He was a disciple of the XIVth Karmapa, an emanation of the Bodhisattva Manjushri, in the direct lineage of Siddha Krishnacharin and an emanation of the Siddha Avadhutipa. His main disciples were Xth Situ, Xth Trungpa, Jamgon Mipham and XVth Karmapa.

" Namo Guruve. Prayers calling the Lama from afar are known to everyone. The key to invoking blessing is devotion, motivated by repentance of old ways and renunciation of samsara. This devotion is not a mere repetition of empty words, but comes from the depth of our heart, from the marrow of our bones and from the conviction that there is no other Buddha apart from the Lama. With this complete certainty we chant..."

" Previously, some devoted monks had asked me to write a prayer like this, but time slipped away, and then recently, Samdrub Dronma, a lady practitioner from a noble family, and deva Rakshita earnestly requested me to composer this text, and so I , Lodro Thaye, who in this degenerate time is a mere reflection if the Lama, wrote this prayer at the great retreat place of Dzongsho Deshek Dupa. May virtue and goodness increase".

In a time of great uncertainty
when all things remained unnamed
and there was only
time and space between
existence and death, there was
no other path but for me
to create lines of song to accompany
this magnificent text.
May it bring joy and peace to those who hear it.

JR 1994

Deepest thanks are due to The Dzogchen Ponlop, Rinpoche, and Michele Martin, the translators, who have allowed their work to be used for the purposes of the recording, and to the Jamgon Kongtrul Labrang, Kathmandu, which houses the work of Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, and their generous permission to use the text. Devotion that Moves the Heart was released January 2005 on the Claudio Bohema label.